potential ingestion of hydrogen peroxide ???

[Annabelle's mommy]

Anna’s feet get pretty stained sometimes (theyre white). I know I don’t need to do anything ahout it, and should just let them be, however it does bother me every now and then.

I usually just wipe a baby wipe with vinegar against her back paws, but today they were particularly dark (from hopping through mud, ugh -.- lol) and I remembered having read somewhere that you can use diluted hydrogen peroxide to whiten the feet stains.
So without really thinking I put a little puddle of water in the tub and some 3% hydrogen peroxide, and let her hop in it for a few seconds. I then let her hop on a towel to dry them a bit. (If I had to guess a 50/50 solution).

A few minutes later I saw her lick her paws (which I should have known would happen).

‘Im so scared she has been posioned by this stupid decision. It’s been about 2 hours since, and she’s acting normal/eating/exploring. But I’m still worried the little amount of hydrogen peroxide she ingested by licking her paws will harm her. I also don’t know how to help at this point, and have just been feeding her lots of her favourite veggies. It’s currently almost 12am where I am, and so no vet is open to call and consult.

Does anyone have experience using H2O2 with bunnies?? Does anyone know the toxicity potential? I know it isn’t very toxic, albeit drying and not good for the skin.

[Bam]

I can’t find anything about this, but the amount she ingested by licking her feet must’ve been tiny. The major risk of a bun ingesting small amounts of H2O2 would be the gas bubbles that form. As rabbits can’t belch or vomit, this could cause trouble. The foaming would occur immediately upon ingestion though, so if it’s been 2 hours, it’s reasonable to think shell be fine.

H2O2 used to be used a lot in wound care both for humans and animals, it’s not recommended these days because it’s irritating to cells and can delay healing. If it were so toxic that tiny amounts ingested would cause huge trouble, I very much doubt it would ever have been recommended for rabbit wound care.

We’d be happy for updates on this. 

[Annabelle's mommy]

Sorry for the late reply, I had forgotten my login and only recently got back on!  I’m replying just in case anyone searches up a similar scenario or just for anyone curious.

Anna was totally fine afterwards thankfully.  I don’t think hydrogen peroxide is toxic in small (very small) amounts from the research I’ve done, and what I’ve learned as a toxicology student.  

As Bam said, this scenario would result in very minimal of the compound being ingested.   

[LittlePuffyTail]

Thanks for the update!

[Author]

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